Saint's Haven
by mythical.stars
Summary: This is a story dedicated to my lovely friends, whom inspired this entire plot with their unique and interesting personalities. The potential of this bright, young Mystic is unfathomable...Slight romance included. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

****HarmonicSona-Mystic (Harm, Sona)

Synvi-Elementalist (Syn)

Aurelian-Priest (Aure)

Venter-Swordsman (Ven)

Renovatio-Paladin (Ren)

**DISCLAIMER: The story basis belongs to the MMORPG, Dragon Nest. I do not claim ownership. However, I did not copy the plot from them either.**

**Please remember to read with emotion, as if this were happening in real life. Review if you think it's good!**

* * *

Mana Ridge seemed as peaceful as usual. The children were out playing with the snow, crying out in carefree laughter. Their mothers stayed near them to make sure no one was harmed, and their fathers were out in the forest fighting the orcs. The goblins never posed much of a problem compared to them. The orcs were large brutes who wouldn't give a second thought to tearing your limbs off one at a time, crushing you with their bludgeons. They were a horrid species. I feared for the citizens who couldn't defend themselves. If monsters started invading Mana Ridge, it would mean imminent death for over half the population. Not everyone could fight, and if they could they were weak. Mostly everyone was just in training and only knew three or four spells that would barely do any damage to the enemy. There were few exceptions among the population.

Of course I was among those few. Synvi, Renovatio, Aurelian, Venter, and Tara were also quite strong. I suppose there's no need to mention any of the trainers, but Cynthia and Leonard were certainly the strongest out of us all. If only they would allow us to advance to Carderock, though. "You are not ready. Be patient." They would always tell us this. Then when _were _we going to be ready? How long were they going to keep us there? I always repeated to myself that they knew best, that I could trust their decisions. But then they sent Venter away. The only warrior who dwelled in Mana Ridge. He was my best friend, and I was happy for him. I couldn't help but feel a little irritated, though. He was the only one allowed to advance, even though we all started training around the same time as him.

I remember when he first came to Mana Ridge. He and I were both eight at the time and just began our training. He looked so lonely being the only warrior there. Everyone else was either a cleric or a sorceress. We all wondered what he was doing here, in a frostbitten hell of a place full of magic users. He seemed like the type of person who would much rather prefer to be in a warm climate. Ironwood Village would suit his preference much more than iron-cold Mana Ridge. However, as the months went by, his quiet and miserable demeanor seemed to die. It was replaced by a cheerful and outgoing attitude, making him become loved by everyone. Synvi and I always watched him with silent admiration. He was a bright, young boy with an interesting future ahead of him. Anyone could see that at first glance. There was something that always puzzled me though. When he first arrived he had extremely light-blonde hair, and then it gradually began metamorphosing into a snow-white chroma. It seemed as though Mana Ridge's frigid atmosphere had frozen away his old self, to be locked away in a forgotten past. What _was _his past? How was his life before we met him? He would never tell us. The thought of remembering anything shook him so badly that we were forced to let the matter go.

"Ven." I called quietly to him.

He was in the middle of packing for his journey, and his room was already cleared out to make space for new lodgers. It was depressing to find out that none of us would ever see him again. At least for a while until we've all met up in Saint's Haven. Who knows how long that'd take…?

He stopped packing and looked up at me. "Oh, Sona. What's up?"

I gave him a wry smile. "So you're finally leaving, huh?"

"Ah..yeah. It's hard to believe they only allowed me to go, though. What about you and the others? You guys are just as strong as me. It's just too unfair."

"I guess they saw more potential in you than us. You _are _pretty impressive after all. A swordsman who grew up in Mana Ridge and even mastered a few magic buffs…you're not like most warriors. You can harness the power of magic and cast it over your weapons, amplifying the overall damage of your attacks. I bet you learned that from Leonard and the clerics. I doubt any other physical-user can use these types of buffs, or at least they're not quite as powerful in terms of duration and effect."

He shook his head. "I doubt it. Any other warrior could have done the same under similar circumstances. It's okay, Sona. You don't need to sugarcoat everything. I know they're just sending me away because they can't teach me anything. I'm just not…the same as you guys. I can't use magic attacks, I can't heal others, and if I went to Ironwood they would just teach me all the basics. I wouldn't learn a thing and Cynthia and Leonard know it. It'd be much simpler to just send me to Carderock."

"If you know they're doing this for your own good, why do you seem so disgruntled?"

"Because it feels like they just want to get rid of me!" he snapped.

He startled me by the sudden loudness of his voice. That wasn't true…No one wanted him to leave. It was just that we were holding him back. He wouldn't reach his full potential if he continued staying with us.

"Ven…try to understand. We're just holding you back. You need to go."

He hesitated for a moment. "I know, but I'll just be alone again. I don't know anyone in Carderock and they're probably so much stronger than me. I don't want to be separated from all my friends. You, Syn, Ren, Aure…it'd all fall apart. All you guys will still be together while I go off on my own adventure. Doesn't that sound lonesome to you?"

There was silence for a few moments.

I wanted him to stay with us so badly. We'd also feel lonely without him, not just him. He'd been with us for nine years, and yet it still seemed too little a time. He was only seventeen years old. That's way too young for him to just suddenly go out and fend for himself. He needed someone to go with him. Why wouldn't Cynthia and Leonard let someone come with him?

I sighed. "I'm sorry, Ven. There's nothing we can do to change their minds. Believe me; we all want to go with you. To be able to train with you, protect you, and to be able to see how much you've progressed over the years. It's sad to see that we won't be able to do that anymore. You'll move on, find better friends, and forget all about us….And that's fine, but we'll never forget you."

"You'll always be our little Ven," I added with a chuckle.

"No, I'll never forget you guys," he mumbled.

I laughed. He never was the sentimental type, and he'd always get embarrassed whenever we acted too affectionate. We always did love to tease him…

"Take care, Ven. I'll see you in the morning."

"Wait," he called.

I turned around to face him. "Yeah?"

He tossed me a small, brown pouch. I stared at it for a moment with a confused expression. "Um…what's this?"

"A bunch of crude obsidians to enhance your terrible equips," he grinned.

I rolled my eyes in reply. "Yeah, yeah."

Then I waved goodbye and left, breathing in the cool air that enveloped the cheerful and prosperous town. Everything was coated in scintillating, white snow, making it seem like a fantastical dream. It was a winter wonderland. Only it was not a dream, and it certainly wasn't as peaceful as many people would like to think. The citizens were always involved in this everlasting war between humans and monsters. Blood was spilled over pointless things. We had been fighting for so long that we almost forgot why the war was started in the first place. Even so, everyone had managed to separate their lives from inside and outside town. Quite contradictory to our lives outside of Mana Ridge, we seemed to appear as if we were a completely ordinary town full of unassuming and somewhat dull citizens. It's as if we ignored the war and weren't even involved in it. Maybe it was better that way. It gave us time to just be ourselves and feel a bit of happiness before we were dragged into the consternations of battle once again.

I shook my head as if that would blow all my troubles away. _It's best not to linger in these unappealing thoughts. I'd rather please myself with a blissful fairy tale. Everything's going to be okay. This nightmare will end soon, and no one will have to die for this hopeless cause anymore._

But I still couldn't convince myself of this utterly fraudulent lie. It was hopeless. This foolish war would never end, and everyone knew that. Even the monsters knew that. That's why it was so hard to believe that one day…this heroic group of individuals would finally end it all.

* * *

That night I couldn't bring myself to sleep. Venter was leaving the next day and it was all I could do to keep myself from stopping him. I could tell Synvi and the others felt the same way. She and I shared a room, so we talked the entire night. We waited sadly for the fateful day when our precious friend would finally depart us.

"Soonnaaa…" she whimpered.

"Come on, Syn. We have to be mature here. You're 19 for goodness sake. Don't make me your mother."

I sat next to her on the floor and added softly, "Come on. Keep your chin up, and see Ven off with a smile tomorrow. You're not the only one who's going to miss him."

She brought her knees up and leaned on them, burying her face in her arms. "I know." Her voice sounded muffled and distant. I struggled to hear her voice. "Hey, when do you think we are going to see him again?"

Tears fell down my face as I was filled with unpleasant thoughts once again. I constantly wondered about that myself. "I don't know, Syn. I really don't know."

Then I saw her pour out another shot of Vodka. "Syn," I said sharply. "That's your sixth shot today. If you drink any more you're going to be completely wasted tomorrow."

"Just one more," she said dreamily, "I need something to occupy my thoughts. You should drink some too."

I shook my head. "No, I'm still under-aged. You are too. If Cynthia caught you with that, you would be reduced to nothing but a smoking pile of ashes."

She just rolled her eyes. "Oh please, she is never going to find out."

"You never know."

Synvi stared at me with a solemn expression for the longest time. I wondered about what she was thinking about. Then she finally spoke. "Hey, Sona."

"What?"

"You should tell Ven your feelings." Her eyes looked sternly at me, and from the tone she was using I could tell she wasn't joking. It was a rare occasion to see her with a serious expression while being drunk.

I scoffed. "What feelings? I don't like him."

"You are lying. Aure and I noticed this a long time ago. You are too obvious."

"You guys are wrong. I don't like him, definitely not.

I crossed my arms stubbornly, but eventually relented to her judging eyes. "But–…I used to."

She grinned obnoxiously when I told her this. "I knew it. Wait–what? Why did you stop?"

"I didn't want to jeopardize our friendship, of course. My feelings would just get in the way of everything. I'd rather contradict my emotions than lose him. Plus that would break apart our entire friend circle. No one would want that."

She sighed exasperatedly. "Oh, Sona. You are such an idiot. We would understand how you felt, even Ven would. If that kind of thing would break our friend circle, it would have broken apart a long time ago."

"Oh yes, I had forgotten about yours and Aure's relationship."

This was all a lie, of course. I actually did remember. It would be impossible to forget, but everything was just an excuse for me not to confront the matter. I knew our friendships weren't so fragile as to fall apart because of such a small thing. I didn't want to talk about it with Ven though…the outcome would have certainly been disappointing.

_It's time to forget all about my past feelings. He doesn't need to know about any of this, not that he would ever find out. Haha…he's such a dense and innocent guy. That's what we all love about him. I hope he stays that way._


	2. Chapter 2

HarmonicSona-Mystic (Harm, Sona)

Synvi-Elementalist (Syn)

Aurelian-Priest (Aure)

Venter-Swordsman (Ven)

Renovatio-Paladin (Ren)

Credos-Sharpshooter

**What is written in this story is strictly fiction. I do _not_ actually think this about Venter in real life. My characters have finally developed their own personalities; They are not my own. Plus some of this was written for Synvi, who loves this coupling for who knows why. xD**

**Please remember to read with emotion, as if this was actually happening in real life. Otherwise, it'll seem boring and you won't want to read.**

* * *

Morning finally came, but my nerves had gotten the best of me last night; I couldn't sleep for even just one second, too busy worrying about how the future would turn out. Would we all still be together, including Venter? For how long? When were they going to send the next person to Carderock? Who? I could only hope that all of us would be able to go together.

I glanced at Synvi, who was sprawled out on the floor with a happy and contented expression. She had fallen asleep after her eighth shot. Synvi always did have a high resistance to alcohol. A normal person would have been knocked out after the sixth shot. It was odd how she had slept so quickly, though. Usually she could drink well over ten. She must have wanted to sleep all her worries away as soon as possible. If only we could all do that, and wake up to find that nothing was really wrong. I would soon realize how often I would think that in the later future. When the smile on our faces would suddenly disappear into a hollow and desolate expression.

I felt something suddenly slap my leg, and looked down to see Synvi staring at me with her cold, blue eyes. They were a contradiction to her usual cheerful and affectionate personality. It was no wonder that she should be snatched away by a man who loved her, but how surprising it was that Aurelian was the one who wanted her. Synvi was 20 years old and Aurelian was 19 years old. They were a good couple, who always made me laugh whenever I saw them. Synvi liked bossing Aurelian around, using her seniority as an excuse for her tyranny. Aurelian would just laugh and agree with her. You could tell they really loved each other, having known one another for over ten years. Sometimes I felt a bit lonely around them, though. Like I was left out of their little group. Renovatio was always out training with the clerics. Venter usually followed him to learn a few buffs. Then there was Synvi and Aurelian left. But what could I do with them? They seemed to always want to go out on dates or just be alone together around town. It's not like I could just ruin their times and follow. I couldn't possibly go with Renovatio and Venter either. They were much more advanced with their spells than I, so I would just be stuck with all the beginners. That would be incredibly boring and I wouldn't be with them anyway. I would usually just stay in my room and study my spell books. Being a Mystic was difficult. You had to have great control of your spells in order to capture all the monsters in your attacks. Mystics have a lot of area of effects, or AoE, but if you lose control of your spells the situation could become quite hectic. We wouldn't want to destroy the time continuum after all.

* * *

List of Attacks Learned So Far and Actually Use: Fire Burst, Toxic Spray, Void Blast, Shock Wave, Gravity Ball, Triple Orbs, Linear Ray.

* * *

I had only learned a few useful spells so far. It wasn't enough to protect myself against stronger monsters, let alone the citizens of Mana Ridge. Perhaps the king would place a few soldiers in this small town sometime soon.

"What are you thinking about?" Synvi inquired.

I shook my head as if to clear my thoughts. "Oh…sorry. I was just wondering how well this town would prosper after we are all gone."

She scoffed. "Heh, this town could do just fine without us. Cynthia and Leonard have everything under control. You need not worry."

"That's just your way of thinking. They can't protect everyone. Many people would die if a raid should ever occur," I said testily. Synvi was always much too relaxed while handling situations. Her mellowness could kill her one day. What would Aurelian do then?

Her forehead wrinkled as she narrowed her eyes. "Relax, kid. You have worse things to worry about. Credos is coming into town tomorrow."

I groaned. "Oh yes, the annual tournament. When will she ever give it a rest?"

"Never. Not until she sees you lying in the dirt, bleeding the hell out of yourself."

"Whatever. I would never allow her to do that, especially since that would bring shame to the Coven."

"Keep your guard up or-"

She was interrupted by Renovatio, who suddenly barged into the room. "Come on, guys. Ven's leaving right now; we wouldn't want you two to miss the big farewells," he said.

We immediately got up and followed Renovatio to the main gates. Awaiting us outside was a large crowd, most likely the entire town. They all shouted at Venter their goodbyes and "come visit us sometime!" 's. Next to Venter were Aurelian, Cynthia, and Leonard. We had to push and weave through the crowd to get to him.

"Popular guy, huh?" I grinned.

He smiled widely at our arrival. "Hey, where were you guys?"

Renovatio rolled his eyes and replied for us. "They were cooped up in their room bawling their eyes out."

"No, we weren't!" I shouted hot-headedly.

"Be quiet, you noisy little kids," Cynthia snapped. "Venter, you must leave soon. Chandler will be awaiting your arrival. It'd be terrible to keep him waiting. Hah! Not like I care either way, but that man has the temper of a Manticore."

"Tell Germaine not to do anything stupid for me, will you?" Leonard said. "I'd hate for him to disgrace Pontiff's Court and the Temple Knights, _especially_ in front of the sorceresses; they're always looking for a reason to insult us. That man, he hasn't been right in the head ever since his master William died."

"All right," Venter replied.

"VENTER!" Synvi shouted. She had been quiet the entire time for some reason.

He rubbed his ears. "Gosh, Syn. Speak louder, would you?"

She waved his comment away. "Never mind that. I need to speak to you in private before you leave."

He had a puzzled expression. "Oh…all right. I'll talk to you outside town then. Just let me say goodbye to everyone."

I stared at her. What could she possibly want to speak to him about without our knowing? I caught her eyes for a moment. She smiled slyly at me, and then quickly turned away. Whatever she was doing, it wouldn't be good for me. That much was obvious.

Aurelian walked up to me while everyone was distracted. "I have a bad feeling about this, Harm."

"About what?"

"Ven. I have a feeling something will go wrong during his journey. Someone should go with him to make sure he's safe. Would you mind going with him? I'm afraid Cynthia would only allow one of us to go, so as not to create a commotion amongst the town. They'd want to know why they couldn't come as well."

I hesitated. "All right, if that would ease your concerns."

"Thanks, Harm. I would go myself, but I'm afraid Ren and I have to attend our classes, and I'd rather not have Syn accompany him alone if you know what I mean."

"No worries there. I'll take care of everything without a problem. I'm sure Ven and I could handle any problem that's thrown at us anyway."

"Ven!" I called. Everyone turned to face me.

"What?"

"I'm coming with you up until the gates of Carderock. Are you okay with that?"

"Oh sure. You can carry all my stuff," he laughed.

"Ha! In your dreams."

I saw Synvi wink at Aurelian and immediately knew it was a set-up. It was too late to back out though. At least it would give us some time to talk before he left us all behind.

Everyone finally finished saying their farewells and it was time for Venter to leave. I took a deep breath and said, "Hey Ven, I'm going to go up ahead and see if everything's okay. Meet me in Snowmelt Forest after you're done talking to Syn."

Of course I knew everything would be fine. I just wanted to find a hiding spot to eavesdrop on him and Synvi. Little did I know of hers and Aurelian's short conversation.

* * *

Synvi spoke quietly to him. "Good thinking, Aure."

"What are you talking about?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"About Sona and Ven, of course. You told her to go with him so they could have some alone time, right?"

His eyes widened. "No, why would you think that? I would never do something of the sort."

"Then…why did you send her away?"

He briefly searched the area before replying, making sure that no one was in hearing distance. "Something's wrong, Syn. The Dragon Cultists have been much more aggressive and active than usual. We had an odd encounter with them in Silent Cloister's Main Hall. I heard them talking about some relic. Whatever they want, it's not safe around here. That's why I wanted Harm to accompany him."

"You idiot!" she snapped. "What about when Sona's returning? She could be in serious danger!"

He shook his head. "Harm's smarter than that. She always keeps an eye and ear out for anything unusual. The Dragon Cultists in this area are weak, remember? The only advantage they have is the element of surprise, and they've already lost that."

"And what about their advantage in _numbers?_ Sona couldn't possible handle fighting so many Cultists at once."

"Don't underestimate her, Syn. I overheard Cynthia and Leonard talking about her one day. They have high hopes for her. She has the potential to be the greatest sorceress of all time, even greater than Kasarana."

"If you say so…" Synvi said, although she was still uncertain about my capabilities.

* * *

Synvi followed Venter outside town. It was somewhat difficult to hear them because of the distance between us.

"So what's up?" Ven asked.

"I will get straight to the point. Is there anyone you have special feelings for in Mana Ridge?"

"And by 'special feelings' you mean…?"

"Do not feign ignorance, Ven," she warned. "You know what I am trying to say."

He narrowed his eyes. "Why do you need to know?"

"Well if you are going away with the possibility of us never seeing you again, I at least want to know this."

"No," he said coldly. "There is no one."

She raised her eyebrow. "Not even Sona?"

"Not even Harm."

She sighed. "Do not make this difficult, Ven. We both know you at least have _some _feelings for her."

"You would be wrong. Look, we're good friends. That's all there is to it."

"Are you sure?"

"Well if you must know, I_ did_ used to like her," Venter answered.

"Why did you stop?"

"Because–she definitely wouldn't go for someone like me. She probably wants some cleric to come and sweep her off her feet, and you know it. We both wouldn't want to jeopardize our friendship anyway."

"Wow," Synvi said, "why are your answers so similar?"

"What? What do you mean? Don't tell me you asked her the same question."

"Well not the _same _question…but yeah, something similar. She basically said the same things as you." She paused and then added with a grin, "That is, if you wanted to know."

A faint tinge of red began to fill his cheeks. "Oh be quiet, Syn. Anyways, you guys don't need to worry. I'll write letters from time to time to let you know how I'm doing. See you."

"Bye, little Venny-poo!" she teased.

Synvi watched him thoughtfully as he left, trying to preserve their short conversation in her mind. It would be fun to see Sona's reaction to all this after all, she thought. Then Venter suddenly turned around and shouted at her.

"Don't you _dare_ tell her anything about this!"

She chuckled. "We shall see!"

Then I quickly ran to Snowmelt Forest before they could see me. Hopefully they hadn't noticed my presence while and before I left. The topic of their conversation had not surprised me at all. It was obvious Synvi was going to speak to him about that. It was his reply that left me baffled. Things would be much more different if one of us had dared to initiate. Perhaps it was better that things turned out that way though. Things would just be awkward and unpleasant between us, since our personalities weren't compatible with romance. We were the type of people that always wanted to fight and nothing more. It was fun showing off my abilities to the beginner students, and also to the more advanced students such as Synvi and the others.

* * *

I arrived at the meeting place a few minutes before Venter, who was struggling to walk due to the weight of his large traveling pack. Seeing him walk towards me reminded me of _Gravity Crush_, an ancient skill that I would learn years later from Sorceress Trainer Stella. She was the third strongest mage during my lifetime, bested by only two people: Lady Kaylinn and Master Kasarana herself. Someday I hoped to be as powerful as them. Maybe even more powerful.

"Hey! Help me carry some of this stuff!" Venter called.

I teleported towards him, and we started lugging the ridiculously heavy pack to Carderock. It left a very noticeable trail on the snow-covered ground. Small patches of dirt started appearing behind us as we struggled on.

"Sheesh, what do you have in here anyway?" I asked.

He looked at me as if I had said something strange. "Are you kidding? If I'm leaving, of course I'm going to bring all my belongings with me."

"Well yeah, but it seems as if we're lugging behind a whole pack of orcs. There's no way you have that many stuff."

"And you don't?"

I shook my head. "No, and you know that. My parents had taken away everything from me when I was young."

"You still need to tell me the whole story of what happened," he said.

"There's nothing to say," I replied quietly. "My mother and father were drug-addicts who loved to drink. They abandoned their only child so that they could spend all their money for their lustful desires. They said I was useless to them, and that if I couldn't contribute anything to them, then I should get out of their faces. My parents were cruel and sent me away, but they were right. What could I possibly contribute to them? All they wanted was money, nothing more. I was just a child and couldn't do anything but play around. I tried so hard to gain their acceptance, but they casted me away as if I was nothing to them. Well maybe I was; I'll never know."

There was silence for a few moments. Tears began streaming down my cheeks as I was remembered of my forgotten past. I had wanted to forget all about it, and never be haunted by the ghost of that dark, lonely dream again. If only it was a dream. Then I could wake up to the smile of my parents.

"I don't even know where they are right now," I choked. "What if they're dead, Ven? What will I do then? Talk to their grave as if that would solve my problems? How would that _possibly _help me? "

"…I know how you feel."

"How would you know?"

"Because my father was a drug-addict himself. Look, I know I've always avoided talking about my past and all, but there's a good reason to that. Before he became addicted, he was a very well-known warrior all throughout the lands, and was the pride of Ironwood. He was sent to Saint's Haven to fight in a war against the power of the dragon cultists and monsters combined. The two had somehow joined forces, but their objective was unknown. While fighting, his leg became severely injured. A monster had ravaged it to a bloody pulp. He almost lost his leg and was immediately carried back to Saint's Haven. My father was a brave and heroic man; I admired him greatly."

I carefully observed his facial expressions as he spoke. He looked as if he was about to cry, and grimaced when he told me about his father's injury. It was obvious why Venter had always avoided our questions. Anyone would have, and they had the right to. I felt grief swell in my heart as if his father were my own. I wanted to comfort Venter and tell him that everything would be all right. But that would be a lie. A cold, brutal lie. Nothing would be healed by just mere words. Not something as wretched as this.

"Even though his injury was so severe, it could have been almost completely healed by an experienced cleric," Venter continued. "However, for some unknown reason my father had a deep distrust for clerics. He refused their help and instead bought morphine from the black market. It was illegal to carry a drug of any kind around with you if you were not authorized to do so. To receive authorization you had to speak with a cleric of high authority. He obviously wouldn't do that. So he went underground and secretly bought it. Father was an inexperienced man in terms of medical attention. He had taken too many doses of morphine and became addicted to drugs. All he wanted to do was take away the pain that was inflicted upon him. That's all he wanted. Why did it have to turn out that way?"

I didn't say anything. It was a rhetorical question, but even if it wasn't I wouldn't be able to answer. What could I say to help him? I couldn't even help myself. These were wounds that could never be taken away from us. It didn't seem like he would hear me anyway. He was too absorbed in remembering his father's catastrophic end. The end of the world he had loved so much.

"His leg had healed over time, but he could never use it again. With one dead leg, he was casted away from the world he had been brought up in. And then monsters began rushing into Ironwood. They wanted to kill everyone there and take away Rose. She was a girl who lived in Ironwood, and was only a year younger than me. They said something about her being a prophet, but a prophet for what? I was too young to understand anything. My mother left to defend Rose and her family. Rose's father left the town to lead the monsters away along with a few other men. Most of the monsters left. Quite a few others had remained though. My and Rose's mother, along with Ironwood's army, had managed to defeat those monsters. But at a deadly cost. Both our mothers were brutally murdered during the battle. My father, who had lost everything he previously had in his past life, threw himself into an agonizing depression. He drank and drank all day, and took drugs to ease his pain. He began to hate me because I looked so similar to my mother. 'Why do you torture me like this? You want me to suffer, don't you? You look like your mother, but you do not have her kind personality. I hate you, demonic child. Leave me! I shall send you away to Mana Ridge, where you will freeze to death in the presence of those wretched clerics. That is how I shall punish you for all that you have done. You are lucky I haven't decided to kill you myself. Away with you!' My heart had torn apart when he said this to me. I mourned for the loss of my mother as well. Why take out his anger on me? It was the drugs and alcohol. That was not the man my mother had once loved. He was a grotesque figure."

"So that's how you ended up in Mana Ridge," I said quietly. "I'm sorry, Ven. I really am."

"For what?" He tried to smile as he said this, but it was a fruitless effort.

I shook my head. "Don't force yourself to smile, Ven. I didn't know you had gone through something like that, and yet I acted so frivolous and giddy around you when we were young. I didn't mean to make your pain grow even more."

He chuckled. "No, I think it's better that you did. It helped me forget the loss of both my parents. I was extremely grateful to you and the others for that. You guys are my best friends, and I'm glad I met you all."

I began to cry again and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tightly. It felt out of character for my usual calm and collected composure, but I didn't care. These were special circumstances. Nothing seemed to matter anymore.

"We're glad we met you too, Ven," I sobbed.

He seemed surprised at my sudden break down, and stood still for a few moments. Then he wrapped his arms around me as I buried my face in his chest. "It's okay, Harm. I'll come back for you guys. Definitely."

"Promise me that. The world wouldn't be the same without our little Ven."

"I promise," he said gently.

We spent the rest of the journey in awkward silence. I fought the longing to tell him to stay during those long, agonizing hours. We eventually made it to the gates of Carderock after a half-day journey. My heart felt like it dropped the moment I saw that large, wooden gate. It was time to say goodbye.

We turned towards each other to say our final farewells. I managed to smile and said, "Bye, Ven. Remember your promise, okay?"

He laughed. "I would never forget. I'll see you in a few years, kid."

"What? Kid? You're only two months older than me!"

"That's just it. _Older. _That means you'll always be a 'kid' to me."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, shut up."

"Oh yeah, make sure to use those obsidians. Your equips are so terrible right now that they look like they're going to rip apart at any moment," he joked.

That was an exaggeration, of course. But my equips _were _terrible enough to easily tear away if a monster should attack me. I was planning on enhancing them as soon as possible, but I could never muster up enough gold to pay for the obsidians.

"Thanks, Ven," I grinned.

"No problem." He sighed and said, "Well, I guess this is goodbye."

"Yeah…bye."

Then we silently parted our ways. I watched him as he left and before entering, he turned towards me and gave me a bright smile. He surprised me, but it was not unwelcome. I smiled just as widely as he did and we both waved goodbye. Venter walked out of sight, and the gates slowly closed behind him.

_You better keep your promise._


End file.
